Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed) and one of the leading rabbis of Religious Zionism, reflected in a special interview with Israel National News - Arutz Sheva ahead of Rosh Hashanah, on the past year, the war, and the processes he believes the Jewish people are experiencing.
He said that despite the immense difficulties and heavy price paid, the past year has been filled with events that he sees as expressions of miracles and an ongoing process of redemption.
“I think we are entering a new year after an extremely difficult and challenging one, but also one filled with incredible miracles of God’s love," Rabbi Eliyahu said.
He pointed to IDF operations in Lebanon and the explosions of Hezbollah tunnels, which were felt across northern Israel.
“Here in the north, all we had to do was hear the ground shaking as all our enemies were buried beneath the ruins of Ali Taher," he said. “You can actually feel that the Almighty is crushing them."
Rabbi Eliyahu connected the events to verses from Psalms: “It is written explicitly: ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them like a potter’s vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.’ That is what is happening to them. They are being crushed. This is what the verse calls a blast - ‘break them with a rod of iron.’"
He returned to the events in Lebanon, saying they gave him a tangible sense of verses from Psalms describing the cedars of Lebanon: “‘He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.’ That is exactly what happened. The cedars of Lebanon were dancing like calves."
“This is happening literally," he added. “We are living through a process that has been unfolding for many years. We dreamed of it and prayed for it, without understanding what it would look like. Suddenly, you can actually feel the cedars of Lebanon dancing - all in order to protect the Jewish people. It gives us the feeling that we are now heading toward a great redemption."
Asked what Jews should focus on in their Rosh Hashanah prayers, particularly in a year when the shofar is not sounded on Shabbat, Rabbi Eliyahu said that the meaning of the shofar remains present even when it is not physically blown.
“Even when there is no shofar blowing, we read the verses associated with the shofar," he said. “Even when our small shofar does not sound, the great shofar of the Almighty is sounding - calling the Jewish people to leave exile and come home."
Returning to the Land of Israel, he stressed, is not the end of the process, but only one stage in its fulfillment.
“We read in the haftarah on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, ‘Again I will build you, and you shall be built.’ We are still going to be built in the Land of Israel. It is not only about coming to the Land of Israel - it is about building the Land of Israel. The prophecies of redemption are concerned with building as well as immigration."
Rabbi Eliyahu also spoke about Jerusalem and the growing number of Jews visiting the capital.
“The prophecy of the shofar concludes with the words, ‘And they shall bow down to the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem,’" he said. “We all see the Jewish people coming to Jerusalem in their tens of thousands, bowing before God at the Western Wall for now - and soon also on the Temple Mount."
“We are in the midst of an amazing process of redemption," he said. “And we know that the Almighty does not do half a job. He does not stop in the middle."
Asked what blessing he would give the Jewish people for the coming year, Rabbi Eliyahu responded simply: “Even better, and even better."
He added, “We have seen incredible miracles over the past three years. There is simply no way to ignore them."
Rabbi Eliyahu emphasized the contrast between the low point from which Israel emerged and the reality he sees today.
“We were at the lowest point imaginable, and we have reached a situation in which the Iranians are afraid," he said. “They are firing at Jordan, firing at Saudi Arabia, firing at Qatar - and who are they not firing at? They are not firing at the Jewish people. Because, ‘All the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they shall fear you.’"
He cautioned that the sheer number of extraordinary events taking place should not cause Israelis to take them for granted.
“It happened yesterday, it happened the day before yesterday. It keeps happening all the time," he said. “This is something we have to pay attention to. We must not get used to it."
Rabbi Eliyahu concluded with a message about the deeper meaning of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.
“That is what the shofar is about - awakening us, so that we do not sink into routine," he said. “We need to pay attention: God is redeeming us. God loves us with an everlasting love, just as we read in the haftarah, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.’ God remembers us: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth.’ Literally. The Almighty is shining His countenance upon us. That is precisely the essence of Rosh Hashanah - the light of God’s countenance shining upon us."